> [Original Message] > From: Paul Stone <pas@xxxxxxxx> > To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Date: 4/6/2006 12:18:12 PM > Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Is torture wrong by definition? > > > >Or it might end up with 99% of the country suffering PTSD for having seen > >it and increase support against capital punishment. When executions for > >pick pocketing were public in London, pickpockets would work the crowd. > > That's funny.. however, execution for pickpocketing is clearly absurd. I'm > talking murder, rape, terrorism here. And... I live in a country without > capital punishment, but for certain people like Paul Bernardo and Karla > Homolka, shouldn't we just burn them? As Dawkins said recently, "some > people are just badly adapted to being humans." They should be taken out. > Or prevented by raising better humans (meaning teaching parenting). I think if we had humongous numbers of cars that run the way humans do, not starting, stalling, going out of control, catching fire, whatever, we'd be in those factories in no time demanding that they improve. If a factory worker showed up drunk or high, he'd be fired. When it comes to making the world's most important commodity, humans, it's anything goes. Drunk, high, rage-filled, needy, depressed, single parent, it's all acceptable. Take out people like Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka (I don't really know who they are) and put them in the vastly reduced prison system that would follow from raising humans that function better. Unfortunately, that's a fantasy, and I'm on the verge of giving it up. > > >They've gone from public displays to private little rooms, hidden away > >from cameras and crowds. Not > >only that, it would make it like a horror movie on prime time, give it an > >unreality. It's the very think we criticize al Jazeera for, that they > >show war the way it really is, with the maimed and burned people and children. > > Who're "we"? The hypocritical puritan american press? > No, you, Lawrence, Eric, me (well, not really me), Joe Average who complains al Jazeera isn't playing fair by showing people what war really looks like. > >I think what you're talking about is revenge, an outlet for the rage from > >losing the WTC. Perpetrators need to be punished, not taken revenge on. > > Here is where I totally disagree. But I won't elaborate, since I don't want > to reveal myself as the psycho I'd be accused of being. > Revenge is universal because it's a product of the crocodile brain. Revenge is a way to work through emotions that can be worked through in far more productive ways. > >How to punish, I don't know. That could be agreed on. > > Clearly it cannot because the capital punishment debate constantly rages. > Sure it can. Put them into solitary forever. It's worse than capital punishment. Lots of room for creativity if one could just engage one's neocortex. > > The problem as I see it why civilization is essentially a mirage is that > > human beings > >function on the crocodile brain, the brain that evolved around (don't quote > >me) 150 million years ago. The emotions, the limbic system are what run > >humans. The neocortex, the thinking part of the brain, is relatively new > >by comparison, probably less than a million years. We need not to pretend > >we don't have emotions, which is what we do now, but to train our emotions, > >work with them. I know I sound like a broken record, but there would be > >few problems in the world if people thought things through instead of > >reacting emotionally nearly all the time. > > No shit. I've been saying that since I was 3. See Andy, we CAN agree on > something. I'm going to mark my calender. > In the abstract we agree. In principle, revenge and taking people out are emotional responses. But, even agreeing in principle is better than nothing. > >Some muscle is good. Unfortunately, we've become so muscle bound that even > >our brains are replaced with muscle. Fixing our own back yard and letting > >the world *want* democracy is a place to start. > > That's how it used to be. I think you are correct. Maybe you guys are > actually devolving. It's ALL Devo's fault. All the evidence points to a reduced standard of living for most Americans in the not too distant future. That's why I say civilization is a mirage. Approachable, but then it disappears. Around 1970 the population of the world was something like 3.5 billion. Now it's something like 6 billion. The more humans, the more problems. I know someone out there will say it's because there are relatively fewer white people. At least invading Iraq has disproved any bias toward white people being less capable of evil. > > "I've got an itching swelling brain and I'm OUT OF CONTROL" > Sounds like a quote from a sci fi. I don't recognize it. See ya later. Until then, keep watching the skies ... > Paul > > ########## > Paul Stone > pas@xxxxxxxx > Kingsville, ON, Canada > > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, > digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html